Negative emails accomplish nothing

Let me start off by saying, don't say that you can do something like say, set up a fashion photo shoot when you've never done it before, because you think it will be easy. The first time is always a learning experience... with anything you do.

I've been working with my client on getting together her fashion photo shoot but more standing to the side to let someone handle getting the crew together. There was some miscommunication with the make-up artist/ hair stylist for the shoot. First, the person who is in charge of getting the crew confirmed a tentative date with the stylist, which they must have mistaken for being a set thing. Strangely enough, the models weren't picked and the clothes hadn't completely arrived to even do the shoot. So the coordinator asked the client to pay a $100 fee for "cancelling" 5 days ahead of time to the make-up artist, which seemed strange enough considering that usually that much time would be enough for most professionals unless otherwise noted.

Then, when the dates were finalized, the client called the stylish who originally quoted through the coordinator that her day rate was $300, now states that her rate is $150 per hour and that it is more than usual as a "penalty" for the cancellation of the previous date. Then the client and stylist come to an agreement as to the final price. Two days later, the stylist writes the client a rude email stating that she feels like she is being "taken advantage of" by giving this rate and explaining that she missed out on a higher paying gig and also spent a lot of money on the make-up kit for the original date. The client received the email and immediately writes back cancelling the stylist completely.

My thought was, "what was the stylist thinking writing that email?" Did she really think that she would get paid more by saying that she thought she was being taken advantage of? Instead, she burned a bridge with the client and got fired from the job. If she was unhappy with the pay rate and felt that it wasn't high enough, she should have just cancelled instead of writing an offensive rude email back. Not even making a phone call, just passive-aggressively writing an email.

The moral of the story is "think before you type" and instead of being negative and offending the client, nicely cancel and explain that you re-assessed your finances and don't feel that you can offer the rate you previously offered and apologize for the misunderstanding. At least in that case, you wouldn't be blacklisted completely from the clients universe.

Another point I'd like the bring up is the fact that the people who think they are can't be replaced, are often the easiest to replace. lol I have about a dozen new excellent professional hair/make-up artists lined up to for the job.